Ulysses Brings Ash’s Hospitality Flair to Baltimore
Homages to Waters include bedside tables in the likeness of flamingos and a shrine to his muse Divine. But the native son is just one of the many inspirations braided into Ulysses, whose name references the stream-of-consciousness style of James Joyce’s novel as well as Ash’s own fictional protagonist, who Cooper lovingly describes as “a limp-wristed bachelor home from a grand tour.” Art Deco–infused guest rooms nod to train cars and ocean liners, with bathroom mirrors in the form of amphorae and pediment-shaped four-poster beds. Their scalloped canopies, like the block-printed robes and beaded lamp-shades, draw from Cooper’s 2020 trip to India. Quilts in the Baltimore album style were hand-embroidered in Rajasthan.
Ash Bar, an all-day eatery with a Continental menu, expands on those themes. Burl paneling, finished in a high gloss and inlaid with steel, riffs on Eckart Muthesius’s 1930s interiors for the Maharaja of Indore. Across the lobby, meanwhile, the kaleidoscopic Bloom’s lounge offers a decadent counterpoint, with a mirrored ceiling and bar and channel-tufted pink banquettes. Cooper calls the room a “hedonistic oval, a place to watch all the action.” So grab a drink (he recommends the Midori Sour), sit back, and meet some characters of your own. hotelulysses.com
